​​​​Shadrack Gutto​

Born in Kisii, Kenya, in 1951 (ancestral home); naturalised South African Citizenship in October 2000; father of 4 daughters born 21/1/1988, 10/11/1990, 19/9/2003 and 21/4/2008.

 

LL.B. (Hons.), University of Nairobi (1975); Pupilage with Archer & Wilcock Advocates, Nairobi; Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, U.S.A (1978); Post-grad. Diploma in International and Comparative Law of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France (1978); Doctorate (Ph D) in sociology of human rights law in 1993 (Lund University/Sweden).

 

.Lecturer and Research Fellow, Faculty of Law and the Institute of Development Studies, University of Nairobi, respectively (1978-1982). In 1982, during the then Kenyan Government’s crackdown on critical academics, was forced into exile and lived in Graz, Austria and London, the U.K. Moved to Zimbabwe as Lecturer, Law Faculty, University of Zimbabwe (1983-1988) and founding editor of the Zimbabwe Law Review. Declared a persona non grata for unspecified “national security” grounds in 1988. Granted Convention refugee status in Sweden in 1989. Senior Teaching and Research Fellow and doctoral student, Institute of Sociology of Law, Lund University (1989 - March1994).

 

Associate Professor, Law Faculty and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand from April 1994; Deputy Director (1995-1998) and Acting Director (2000-2001). Headed the Land Rights Research Programme and lectured in Public International Law, Human Rights, Property Law and Land Reform, Constitutional Law and Jurisprudence. Supervised masters and doctoral students. Was Co-Chairperson of Wits University Transformation/Institutional Forum 1996-2000.

 

Full Professor and Chair of African Renaissance Studies & former Director of the Institute for African Renaissance Studies, College of Graduate Studies, University of South Africa (UNISA) – managing and mainly supervising masters and doctoral students: June 2003-August 2011; August 2011- Professor and Coordinator of Unisa Certificate Programme in Management of Democratic Elections in Africa (2011-); former Professor Extraordinaire at the Faculty of Humanities, Tshwane University of Technology (2008-2010) and former  Non-Executive Chairperson at Maluleke Seriti Makume Matlala (Attorneys) Inc (2007-2011). Member of UNISA Senate and Senate Executive Committee (2006-2012), and deputy chair of Senate Publications Committee; Academic planner and coordinator of the Government of South Africa-UNISA-Government of Southern Sudan human capacity and institutions’ building project (2004-2010); occasional lecturer at the South Africa National Defence College (2008-).

 

Published widely in local and international legal and political economy and cross-disciplines professional and academic journals and has authored and edited the following books and monographs:

 

(i) (Editor and contributor) Shared Values, Constitutionalism and Democracy in Africa (2011) (ii) (Author) Equality and Non-Discrimination in South Africa: The Political Economy of Law and Law Making (2001); (iii) (Editor and contributor) A Practical Guide to Human Rights in Local Government (1996); (iv) (Author) ICJ Workshop on NGO Participation in the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 1991-1996: A Critical Evaluation (1996); (v) (Author – a creative story book for children) Big Eat Them (1996); (vi) (Author) Property and Land Reform: Constitutional and Jurisprudential Perspectives, (1995);  (vii) (Author) Human and Peoples’ Rights for the Oppressed: Critical Essays in Theory and Practice from Sociology of Law Perspectives (1993) ; (viii) (Co-editor and contributor) Namibia: Conspiracy of Silence (1989); (ix) (Chief investigator) Survey on Laws on Fertility Control (1979).

 

A member of a number of committees and boards of statutory bodies, e.g. the Constitutional Matters Committee of the Rules Board for Courts of Law, Equality Review Committee (DoJ & CD) and the Policy and International Liaison Committee of the South African Human Rights Commission. Sits on a number of advisory and control boards and boards of trustees of national and regional non-governmental legal and human rights organs of civil society including BLA-Legal Education Centre; National Paralegal Institute; Africa Legal Aid; African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies; Rural Legal Trust; and National Land Committee. Treasurer, Arusha AU-NEPAD Human Rights Trust Fund. Treasurer, Vice-President and President, Society of Teachers of Law of Southern Africa (1998-2000, 2000-2001 and 2002-3, respectively).

 

Special adviser and one of the drafters of the Restitution of Land Rights Act, Communal Property Associations Act, Extension of Tenure Security Act (1994-1997), Equality Act (2000), Communal Land Rights Act (2004) and Protection of Information Bill (2008); has provided constitutional legal opinions, conducted commissioned research and judicial training; participated in legislative drafting for several ministries and departments in the Government (land affairs, justice, health, education, arts, science & technology and intelligence). Chaired the National Legal Aid Transformation Team (1998-1999) and the Ministerial Panel of Experts on the Development of Policy on Ownership of Land by Foreigners (2004-2007); Member of the National Refugee Relief Fund Board; Member of the Steering Committee of the Legal Services Charter (2004-2007). Has participated in human rights national needs assessment, programmes development and monitoring missions for the then UN Centre for Human Rights (Lesotho & Namibia) and Amnesty International (Sierra Leone). Ad-hoc legal expert consultant to the International Commission of Jurists (1996), the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and United Nations Development Programme (October 2001-2007), African Union and NEPAD (2002-2011), the International Bar Association (2002-3); Part-time Special Adviser to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development on transformation of the justice sector (2004 - 2008); Part-time Advisor to the Minister of Housing (2005-2008); Advisor to the National House of Traditional Leaders (2007-); Co-Team Leader: APRM-CRM to Nigeria (2008); Research on constitutional, legislative and policy mandates of the Department of Public Works;  the media analyst and commentator on law, politics, society and African Renaissance. Columnist for ThisDay 2003-2004 and occasional columnist for Enterprise Magazine (2008-9) and The Thinker (2009-). A member of editorial boards of accredited, peer reviewed, academic and professional journals such as the South African Yearbook of International Law and founding editor of the nationally and internationally accredited International Journal of African Renaissance Studies: Multi-, Inter- and Transdisciplinarity (IJARS) www.informaworld.com/alerting; www.tandf.co.uk/journals/rars